Military and law enforcement personnel today routinely employ body armor in the course of law enforcement and military operations. Improvements in modern body armor technology have resulted in great increases in the protection offered without the drawback of prohibitive weight. Furthermore, while body armor has traditionally been most frequently utilized by military personnel, the rise of heavily armed criminal and terrorist threats have led to the increased use of substantial body armor by police and other law enforcement personnel.
Body armor, such as a bulletproof vest, is designed to protect the torso of the user, and the protective armor layers of the body armor often extend over the shoulders of the user and may cover the user's armpits. Body armor is often thick and bulky, especially with the addition of rigid ballistic plates for increased protection. One potentially serious disadvantage caused by the presence of bulky or thick armor around the shoulders and armpits of the user, is that the armor often prevents the user from being able to firmly position the stock or rear portion of a shotgun, rifle, or other firearm against the user's shoulder. If the user is unable to firmly position the firearm against his shoulder, the recoil of the firearm may cause the firearm to slide out of position when fired, spoiling the user's aim and preventing the user from effectively using the firearm. Furthermore, the lack of a stable surface against which the user can secure his firearm also prevents the user from achieving a consistent sight picture while aiming, greatly decreasing the user's accuracy even on the first shot. When faced with life or death situations where a difference of a split second may have devastating consequences, even a modest decrease in the user's ability to use his weapon is a severe disadvantage.
Various devices exist within the prior art which attempt to address the difficulty in shouldering, aiming, and firing a firearm while wearing thick or bulky body armor. Such devices often take the form of a rigid plate or socket affixed to the user's shoulder which is shaped to catch and retain the stock of the firearm. While such devices do address the problem of the firearm slipping against body armor to a certain extent, they are inflexible and cannot be repositioned and adjusted to suit the individual user's preferences and shooting habits. Furthermore, military and law enforcement personnel often face changing tactical situations that may require the use of various types of firearms having different shooting characteristics and requirements. Rigidly fixed devices critically do not allow the user to reposition and adjust the device to adapt to changing situations and different firearms. Furthermore, as many military and law enforcement personnel operate in wooded or cramped environments, it is vital that such devices do not further restrict the user's movements or present protrusions which may snag on foliage, clothing, and other obstacles.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for a stabilizing device which addresses the difficulties inherent in shouldering, aiming, and firing a firearm while wearing thick or bulky body armor, which is further adjustable and removable to allow the user to optimally position the device to suit the user's needs, and to quickly adapt to different situations.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.